About me.

When someone asks me to describe myself, I always ponder for a while. As years pass by, answering this is not as straightforward as it used to be. Often, I come to the same conclusion - that is, no matter how momentous and significant some things were at certain points of my life, the one and only thing that seems to rise above all else and leave its mark in my heart forever is my journey as a mother. So, if I have to put it in one simple sentence, I will say that I am Leena's, Yukta's and Tushar's mother and yes, no role, responsibility or achievement matters as much.

Beyond that, my life revolves around academics, career and involvement in socio-economic causes, all of which are avenues for me to contribute my thoughts and energies, to exercise my convictions and to build on my long term aspirations for a more sustainable and prosperous present and future.

Education:

I had my early education in Sek Ren Tunku Abdul Malik, Kulim (1983-1988) and went on to Sek Men Sultan Badlishah, Kulim for secondary schooling up to Form Five (1989-1993). My schooling years and large parts of my youth centered around numerous state and national level academic achievements and accolades.

After straight As in UPSR and Sijil Rendah Pelajaran (SRP), I emerged as the national(Malaysia) top scorer in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 1993 with 9A1s 1A2 (highest national score for SPM 1993). This earned me several headlines in the newspaper front pages and even a special mention in TV3's lunch hour news bulletin and landed me the Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) scholarship for further studies in England which I later turned down due to family reasons.

SPM 1993 Results/The Star 24 March 1994. Rama mispelled as Rahma...

I then continued my Sixth Form at Badlishah. As a self-taught person, I also started studying for A-Levels at home.

I scored straight As again in A-Levels Summer 1995 exams and topped that with a score of 80/80 ie 5As (highest national score) in STPM 1995 making me the only person I know to ever sit for two of the world's toughest pre-university exams at the same time and to score the highest in both, which again saw me in news coverage.

Role of Honour Students - STPM 1995 Results/The New Straits Times, March 1996

With an eye on finance and commerce, I also sat for the Sijil Perdagangan Malaysia at both Intermediate (1993) and Advanced(1995) levels and again, scored all As.

With stellar academic records and my active involvement in sports and extra-curricular activities, I was inundated with various grants and scholarship awards at both national and international levels - from Kedah State Government as the State's Highest Scorer, JPA Overseas Scholarship, Public Bank Pingat Bestari Award for National Best Scores in SPM, Gamuda Scholarship, Bank Negara Overseas Scholarship and the best of them all, the London School of Economics Undergraduate Scholarship. I received many other awards from various local and societal organizations and universities.

Presentation of the 'Pingat Bestari' by Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat, Minister of Information of Malaysia in April 1994. Pingat Bestari is conferred to the best three students in Malaysia with the highest scores in SPM and strong performance in co-curricular activities. The award is conferred jointly by Public Bank and Ministry of Education Malaysia.

I furthered my studies at the London School of Economics(LSE) in London, United Kingdom from 1996 to 1999 under the Bank Negara Overseas Scholarship. I emerged as the highest scorer in the entire faculty of Accounting and Finance for both my first and second years. I remember being given the honour of representing the LSE in 1998 to receive the latest accounting standards compilation by one of the big four accounting firms. I also earned the Ernst & Young prize in that year and the CIMA award in 1999 for my outstanding results in the university exams. Represented London School of Economics to receive the CIMA Award 1999.

While at LSE, I took on a couple of leadership roles - as the President of the Green Economics Society, the Secretary of the LSE Women's Group and the President of the LSE Hindu Society. My years at LSE culminated in a First Class Honours Bachelors of Accounting and Finance from the university.

In front of Peacock Theater, August 1999.

Further Education and Career

I returned to Malaysia in 1999 and started work at Bank Negara Malaysia, developing prudential and strategic policies for the banking institutions in Malaysia. In 2003, I completed the Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) qualifications from the CFA Institute, US in 2003 (in the minimum 3 years, with first year scores of >70 for all subjects).

I then moved to management consulting working at management consulting firms The iA Group, Frost & Sullivan and Ethos Consulting, specializing in business strategy and public policy. I worked on various sectors - higher education, transportion, public private partnership initiatives, franchise business development, economic development, biotechnology etc. A lot of my work during this time, in my capacity as thought leader, Project Manager and part of Project Directorate, revolved around the development of strategy blueprints aimed at spurring economic and social growth across selected economic sectors and communities in the country.

After a stint of 10 years in the corporate world, I came out to set up and develop my own strategy and media company, Talentcells with another partner, specializing in latest and emerging technologies in the digital space especially in telecommunciations, IT and media.

Following Talentcells, we spinned off a number of digital outfits and brands, including The Fast Mode, one of the fastest growing global online media that caters for telecommunications and information technologies.

Over a decade in these companies saw me rising through the ranks from a strategy consultant to a thought leader, leading major industry initiatives in these sectors with a personal brand and a wide range of editorial and analysis work ('Tara Neal') copyrighted under it. Democratization of content and the more connected society we enjoy today will not be possible if not for the major advancements made in IP connectivity and network technologies - Tara Neal

Our companies have since tailored and delivered marketing strategies for more than 20 leading global technology companies headquartered in Europe and North America and have worked with more than 200 others on their marketing content, with focus on emerging topics such as big data analytics, the Internet of Things, virtualization, machine learning, artificial intelligence. In this role, I find myself working on one of the fastest moving industries of our time with a pace and intensity that is highly challenging.

Going the Extra Mile

Through this journey that spans more than 42 years, I came to realize that to truly improve our lives and respond to the challenges that beset us today - whether it is the economy, social systems, education, healthcare or the environment - it is important to be involved in the needs and concerns of the wider society, and where required, to take an active lead to causes that matter. In this regard, I find myself getting involved in a number of policies and ensuing initiatives, guided mostly by the following ideas:

• Supply Side Economics - I am a proponent of supply side economics, and I believe that by putting in place the right economic, social and education systems, we are able to spur both economic and social development without the need to rely too much on demand-driven policies (both fiscal and monetary) that are bound to create destabilizing boom and recession cycles that always throw households, economies and governments out of their equilibriums.

• Self-sufficiency - I am also a proponent of self-sufficiency and I believe that globalization should first and foremost consider the long term benefits of prioritizing local produce, local culture and local ways of life - which I believe are readily optimized for long term survival of any local community in their given geography. As such, I believe that over-specialization that often results in mass adoption of the popular culture with local produce and practices that have sustained communities for hundreds of years being gradually eliminated can backfire in the long term if not in the medium term in terms of elevated health costs, lower creativity/productivity and over dependency on foreign income.

• Data and Digital Technologies - While I have always been careful on the promotion of economic development and production policies of the Industrial Age that have little regard to the overall long term costs to society, I look forward to the unfolding of the Digital Age and the technological advancements it brings. Part of these advancements have successfully curtailed over-industrialization and an overly materialistic culture by shifting our consumption patterns to 'experience' rather than those based on physical goods and services with emotional well-being, free time, human engagement (virtualized) and democratization of knowledge taking over as measures of happiness, liberty and progress.

This Blog

While at a glance, my journey seems pretty linear, and somewhat predictable, I have had my fair share of untold struggles, surprises and miracles and tales of grit and determination that are worth sharing with others treading a similar life path - whether they are today's best scorers, graduates returning from elite universities abroad, young mums struggling to balance career and family, entreprenuers seeking opportunities to create value or anyone with bigger aspirations in life.

Hence this blog which will be a great conduit for me to share my stories as well as my initiatives and ideas with a wider audience, which I hope will connect me to like-minded people and which will enable me to do my part in getting each of us ready to work, live and compete with the rest of the 8 billion people in a USD80 trillion global economy.

So keep an eye out for my posts and feel free to share my articles (with attribution) and do follow my Page on Facebook and Twitter and THANK YOU for dropping by and don't forget to visit often.

Yours sincerely - Rama

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Appendix

Archive/Excerpts:

News Straits Times March 1994

News Straits Times March 1994

Pingat Bestari 1994

Pingat Bestari 1994